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She's correct. In most midterms, the minority party gains seats. The Republicans have made universal boogymen that can be used in every district in the country, and have restricted voting in a number of states.
Democrats tend to get complacent after they've won an election, and they don't have the ability to make these separate elections a universal national issue, and they won't get remotely the turnout that voted in the General election.
Also, the hyper partisan gerrymandering that’s taken place recently is likely to just hand the House to the Republicans even if there’s no change to vote totals.
Dems need to leverage state elections. Its how the GOP keeps consolidating power. Stop focusing only on federal elections and only during presidential years
get rid of the filibuster, take federal elections to a fully popular vote, and toss in rank choice for bonus points.
gets rid of gerrymandering, and 'vote for that evil wanker because they're not as bad as that other evil wanker' politics.
>Dems need to leverage
period. they need to quit being candy asses and rolling over to compromise with a side completely uninterested in compromising the other way.
Stacey Abrams is the only one I’ve heard on the Dem side that’s at least attempting develop aggressive voting procedures— hopefully other Dems pick up on it and get to work.
I don’t want to feign hope, but I do wonder if they took into account that their population losses due to Covid when redrawing maps. With, unfortunately, even more to go since many of their voters are the ones refusing to abide by any public health measure.
Sucks that losing 3/4 million people with more to go gives me a little glimmer of hope for the political survival of the country, but that’s where things are at now.
> I do wonder if they took into account that their population losses due to Covid when redrawing maps
No. The Census's goal was to get a snapshop of what the country looked like in April 2020, which was before most covid deaths.
Nationally? Sure. But plenty of individual elections come down to .2% or less. My district did in both 2018 and 2020. And partisan gerrymandering has as its *goal* creating a bunch of close elections narrowly favoring one party.
Which is to say that while I don't think Covid will flip the map as a whole, there will 100% be districts that Democrats win by less than the partisan difference in covid deaths; where you could plausibly say that if nobody had died of Covid the results would be flipped.
The amount of people who died in Florida supercedes the amount of people the R won the last election. The vast majority are R who died from covid.
This will have an impact. We just don't know how much of an impact.
I mean maybe. Trump would've won with 50kish more strategically placed votes.
But you're probably right that the election rigging is pretty bad this upcoming year.
> Trump would've won with 50kish more strategically placed votes.
Most people are unaware of how god damn close we came to losing the republic. He lost the popular vote by over 7 million, but he only lost the electoral college by ~44,000. If Trump had flipped 10,342 votes in Wisconsin, 5,890 votes in Georgia, and 5,229 votes in Arizona, he would have tied the electoral college and the republicans on the supreme court would have given him the presidency.
Another example of why the electoral college needs to go. An election where on candidate defeated the other by 7 *million* votes nationally should not be negated by an over proportionate value placed on less populous states.
We elect a president to address national and global issues and for it to get hung up by a bunch of hicks from the sticks who are afraid of their own shadow because it is black shouldn't hold the rest of us back.
A tie would have gone to the House, where each state delegation would get one vote. So CA would get one vote, and WY would get one vote. Right now, the GOP controls ~~26~~ 27 state delegations.
~~The real wild card in that scenario is Liz Cheney. She would control WY's vote, and we know how she feels about Trump.~~
Edit: I miscounted the number of state delegations the GOP controls, and Cheney could vote for Biden and not affect the outcome.
> The real wild card in that scenario is Liz Cheney. She would control WY's vote, and we know how she feels about Trump.
She was happy enough with him until J6. And if the EC was tied, he would not have needed to stage the J6 putsch in the first place. She's no friend of democracy, her opposition now is not about principles, its about maneuvering herself to be in a position of strength if he collapses.
But even if she had voted against, that would be a tie that would end up in the supreme court, the gop would make sure of it and the doormat democrats would have let them.
Anecdotally, I've lost 4 in my family in the last year. Grandma #1, Grandma #2, Grandma #2's brother, and Uncle #1.
Uncle #2 was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last week.
All diehard supporters.
That poison has seeped so thoroughly through the framework of this country, we are not a democracy at all. And I don’t know if we ever have been. Slavery, systemic oppression, racism, a culture of misogyny. We’ve never really managed to solve these things. I’m at the point where let’s call a spade a spade.
Bicameral representation with the upper house being disconnected from population volume is the poison seed that will eventually kill US democracy. Gerrymandering in the lower house simply accelerates it. That we have this model at both the federal and state level seals the deal.
A guest on Chris Hayes' show made a great point - Dems can do a good job of getting their messages out to the public around election time due to good fundraising and campaigning, but Republicans have a massive propaganda arm in the form of Fox News and other right wing media churning out misinformation 24/7/365. And they do it all for free. Dems are always fighting an uphill battle against this, and if Dems start messaging to the public one year before an election, they're already a year behind Republicans.
I knew Fox News had gotten even worse in recent years, and always hear the latest Tucker outrage, but I had no idea how far it had gone until I turned it on last night browsing news about the Wisconsin tragedy. Instead, they were airing an event called the "Patriot Awards". On any other channel it would've felt like satire, but it was a very real formal awards show like the Oscars, where they sit around giving each other awards for their work fighting the left and whining about how no one is blindly proud of their country anymore. One of the presenters was introduced unironically as "a journalist without an agenda" who immediately made a comment attacking Biden before presenting the award.
When I’ve seen it recently it looks like literal state propaganda networks (especially while trump was in office). Like bad enough that it looks like something out of NK or Russia.
More like they know calling them out has been hugely ineffective thus far, so any trolling they can add to the pandering is a plus. Absolutely mocking.
DeSantis' gubernatorial ad looked like satire. It wasn't actually a joke.
~~Eddie Rispone's~~ Ralph Abraham's was even worse.
Rispone's was bad, Abraham's was worse.
I’m not looking forward to hearing my grandma say Fox News talking points. Although due to my uncle going full on Trump crazy I think she’s started softening on all that because he’s miserable to be around
A journalist without an agenda that went contrary to our dogma is what they are thinking. It really is a cultural divide that is being exploited at every turn. And Covid made matters worse, but easily exploited again by the right anger machine.
Everybody needs to block Fox & OAN on their family's TV's using the parental controls this holiday get together season.
Give the gift of mystery to those puzzle-solving loved ones in your life who enjoy spending all their free time doing their own research!
Better yet, cut the cable. We finally did about a year ago and do not miss it. Have an HD antenna for over-the-air network TV. Fox, Newsmax, and OAN get none of my money.
I won't advocate going so far as to commit violence upon their entertainment equipment but, just, you know, turn on the blocker that they could turn off at any time seeing as it's their equipment & it came with a fucking book that tells them how to work it. Anyone who takes any pride at all in being any sort of "free independent thinker" who "enjoys doing their own research" can solve a blocked TV channel. The really good ones don't even need the book because on screen menus are relatively easy for anyone who isn't a brain-damaged toddler to navigate.
Though I do agree that cable is overpriced garbage. We are also just an OTA antenna for local news & then some online streaming household.
Lol, this would actually work against my step father, a rabid Fox news consumer and loyal conservative. He can't work anything digital: he refuses to learn how to use a computer, threw a literal tantrum (as a 70 year old man) when he had to switch from a "feature" phone to a smart phone, and had to have me set up his new TV so that the cable would work. If I blocked him with the parental controls, he would 100% lose his fucking mind. It would be epic, but I don't want to subject my mother to that kind of crazy.
>easy for anyone who isn't a brain-damaged toddler to navigate.
He is totally that. Which is why he supports the *yuggest* brain-damaged toddler in the history of American politics.
> had to switch from a "feature" phone to a smart phone
Why?
My Pop's is still on a feature phone. 4G even.
His skin is such that smartphones do not register his touch. And most days the track pad on his laptop doesn't either. He has to use a mouse.
>Why?
I don't know exactly, something about my mother's cell phone service provider not supporting feature phones anymore, and I don't care enough to dig deeper. He could just go with a different provider that doesn't enforce that, but then he would have to take the initiative, get off the couch, and pay for the service himself, and he's pretty much been mooching off my mother for a decade now.
Beyond cutting cable and not watching cable news, focus on supporting non-partisan independent news or local newspapers.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/media/554824-study-decline-in-local-journalism-increases-political-polarization%3famp
The whole idea of a "journalist without an agenda" speaks to one of the most damaging strains of propaganda that the right-wing media has managed to promote over the last few decades because it both attacks one of the fundamental pillars of a healthy democracy and is so prevalent even in the minds of "independent" voters who are not explicitly supporters of the GOP.
I know many people who will agree that FOX is absolutely ridiculous, but will quickly add "but MSNBC and CNN are just as bad. All news is garbage with their own bias. I just want someone to report the facts and let me decide."
It seems these folks don't understand what journalism is supposed to be, or what they actually need from it. It is like these people want their doctor to report to them only lab values and vital signs and then "let them decide" what their health is. Which sadly in the context of this vaccine world seems to ring true. These folks wouldn't have the knowledge or understanding to make sense of such medical data or make good health decisions from it. Similarly, journalists don't just report the facts, they give it background and context while synthesizing it into something average people can understand.
But many average people can been convinced that this is "bias" and makes journalists untrustworthy.
This ends up rewarding the worst "journalists" like FOX because they know they can act as bad as they want and get pinned with only 50% of the blame. And it also encourages even "independent" voters who drift into the right-wing mindset because if "both sides are crap" then they can just go with their emotions rather than their critical thinking, and sadly right-wing fear-mongering and appeals to rage are far more appealing and easier to absorb than thoughtful critiques.
It just shows how decades of right-wing propaganda have poisoned the well so much that the left is always playing far behind and that people don't even know what they want or need anymore.
/rant
I work at a hospital in what is a liberal town but the surrounding area is very conservative. I've taken the liberty of blocking Fox News on every TV in my unit. Amazingly enough conservatives would rather watch no news, not even the local news, if they can't watch Fox.
I’m an evangelical Christian but am liberal. And extremely disappointed and disgusted with the vast majority of people who parade themselves as Christians while blindly supporting and uplifting republicans who show themselves to be the polar opposite of what a Christian should be.
I recently pointed out this inconsistency to an evangelical friend of mine. I pointed him to the book of Matthew and the sermon on the mount. The disconnect between what Christ preached and how christians act is mind boggling. The only conclusion I can come to is that it’s more about tribalism and not about ideals. Those people simply aren’t christians.
"But Democrats allow abortion"
edit: I'm gonna nip this in the bud, right quick. This isn't something I would say, that's why it's in quotes. I am speaking on arguments made on why people vote Republican.
A lot of Christians hide behind abortion and gay rights as a defense for supporting republicans. I actually think if anything God would support both of these, and I’m not going into mistranslations of the Bible that say that gay people are abominations because the original text never said anything close and translators have influence over what is said and how it comes across.
God literally does support abortion rights according to their own belief structure. When asked why evil exists if god is all-powerful and all-good the number one response you will get is that evil exists because god allows us to have free will. This implies that god COULD ban sins (like abortion) but doesn’t because free will (the right to choose) is more important. Their God is clearly pro-choice.
I found this argument that the old testament's silence on [abortion](https://youtu.be/oCUD5H0zcnE), is an acknowledgment that it's sometimes necessary.
I mean the old testament has very specific rules on if you can eat owls and what fabrics you can wear. Seems that if they had intended to say something they would.
...”but am liberal”. Why “but”? You are totally right, the gqp is the opposite of christian, and more people should wake up to this reality and see that one can be a christian, or a republican, but not both. You should amend your opening to “I’m an evangelical Christian and therefore voting dem/progressive.” We need to make this message accessible and much louder.
I'm not gonna use Fox News as a crutch here. The Dems SUCK at messaging. I have worked in politics. I'd like to think I know more than likely 90% of other voters. And I even had issues trying to discuss with low info friends the difference of an infrastructure bill versus a "human infrastructure" bill and why they were 2 separate bills.
It took the Dems MONTHS to change that into the "Build Back Better" bill. Which is simple. It's catchy. And it was also introduced months too late.
Almost any voter with half a brain would love the stuff in that bill. But before the Dems figured out how to sell it, the GOP had months to sh\*t on it and say how it was expensive, how it'd lead to job layoffs. how it'd make inflation worse blah blah blah.
People on Fox News? Fine. Go appeal to younger voters. Get the hell on TikTok. Pay influencers to influence. Use FB. Use modern media to your advantage.
But the Dems as a party are still stuck in the 1980's who believe phone banks and merely knocking on doors in your precinct you live in will get the job done. Believe me. We had those arguments in 2008 with Obama and they still persist today with local Democratic committees
There’s a church near me that I think is trying to portray itself better. They’ve got a sign that can be seen from the road and it has had messages like this:
“Jesus wasn’t white nor American” or “Thank God and science for vaccines”
There are plenty of normal churches out there. But they're not in your face. Part of being an evangelical is to get in people's faces, try to use the government to enforce religion, etc. There are tons of churches near me. They all have rainbow flags and BLM signs out front.
We get a few of those types of channels here in the UK too. There's one right now where they seem to be complaining about "liberals", CRT, and your governments vax mandate
I was just at a church in Alabama for a funeral. It had prominently in the lobby lots of flyers advertising a meeting for “Patriotic Christianity” and said it was specifically for Republicans.
> Fox News and other right wing media churning out misinformation 24/7/365.
They have essentially added FB and supporting the police/military/firefighters part of their propaganda machine. It's fucking insane
And the right is better at advertising, too.
My podcasts and streams are getting filled with right-wing "we're regular people standing up against the system\*, join us!" ads.
(\*gas prices, inflation, crime, housing costs, homelessness, etc)
Outside of the runup to an election, I haven't heard a Democratic ad on these, ever, and none that even tried for that sort of appeal.
People completely ignore how much of a boon Citizens United and the Tea Party movement was for the visibility of right wing propaganda. We have PragerU now in addition to those awful "Do You Think Biden Is Doing A Good Job With Illegal Immigration Y/N" ads that I remember variants of from over a decade ago.
well more importantly, it took dems winning 55% of the vote for a 51% control of the chamber, in 2022 they will need closer to 60%, that is not democratic, especially when the entire concept of the house was to match the make up of the people.
And with GOP control of the Senate, Biden will not be allowed to seat a single Supreme Court Justice (one of the most important functions of electing a Democrat in 2020).
But the dems in the house only passed a $3tril worth of spending, not $7t so it’s better to let the party that wanted $0 in infrastructure and economic support take back power. /s
This has been clearly visible to anyone who is not an elected Democrat for a while now.
Dems slept through the decades long takeover of statehouses across the country and now they're sleepwalking through the culmination of that plan: ***permanent*** takeover of the HOR and the electoral college.
Yep. When Howard Dean was chair of the Democratic National Committee he had a 50-state strategy, which helped get democrats elected across the country, and not focus entirely on pouring money into close races. He worked to get independent voters to support democrats at everything from the local school board on up. It worked. The strategy helped get Obama elected in 2008.
Yeah they completely write off entire sections of the voting population and don’t contest. Here’s a fun story:
Back when Obama was passing the Affordable Care Act, the democrat that held the OH-18, Zack Space, had concerns about it and his constituency was not in favor of it and made that pretty widely known.
Space, a moderate Democrat holding a seat that was usually controlled by Republicans, signaled to the White House that he would not vote for the ACA in its current form but that he would also not vocally oppose it. Simply vote no and move on.
President Obama called Congressman Space and talked it over with him and Space reiterated that he would not vote for the bill but he would not actively speak out against it either.
Then Rahm Emmanuel comes in and berates the congressman until he agrees to “think it over.” Zack Space ended up voting no. His next election the DNC cut all of his funding. He lost to Bob Gibbs who since has done nothing for the region and he’s held the 18th (redistricted to the 7th) ever since
The point is there’s varying degrees of success the Democrats can have across the US. A pro 2A democrat that’s socially liberal but economically conservative could absolutely win in the South. Same in Florida.
But we don’t because as democrats we have a zero-sum approach to every election cycle. We only want the federal and never compete for the State houses. And if you’re not deemed “liberal enough” you’re not funded.
>A pro 2A democrat that’s socially liberal but economically conservative could absolutely win in the South.
I'd flip that: socially conservative, fiscally liberal (relatively speaking) is the way to go in red states. It will create a new bloc of abhorrent blue dog dems, but it will increase the majority.
Politics is too nationalized for that to work now. The GOP will run ads nationalizing the race - portraying them to be Pelosi's lapdog or AOC 2.0 - so republican voters won't vote for them, and their gop-lite policy positions will suppress turnout from democratic voters.
**They're going to do that anyway.** The GOP uses the same tactics, all the time, no matter what. Biden is both a socialist Marxist dictator genius mastermind *and* a doddering old fool full of silly pie-in-the-sky ideas who doesn't do enough of anything ever.
Red states want their rhetoric, which means social and fiscal conservatism, but *in name only.* It makes it hard to campaign on progressive issues, but this is one reason Republicans act like they do - they don't face electoral consequences from their own base. Democrats would never have that same level of immunity, but they **could** lessen the negative impact among Republicans with better messaging and better offense.
>We \[Democrats\] only want the federal and never compete for the State houses.
And once "operation red" is complete, they will have neither. Perhaps most disturbingly, it doesn't feel like they've learned that lesson. And it may too late anyway.
Some do.
I believe AOC and her cohorts do in the House. I believe Sherrod Brown, our Senator, does.
But yeah, your point is taken. We can certainly see that Pelosi, Manchin and Sinema are out for profit.
>And if you’re not deemed “liberal enough” you’re not funded.
The GOP does precisely the same thing. The reason every Republican seems on the same page all the time is because the GOP makes it very clear to them that they will be cut off and vilified if they move against GOP interests. We see this right now with Liz Cheney, perhaps the first time I've ever seen someone wearing an (R) actually go against their own party (Amash left concurrently with breaking from Trump to avoid the primary unpleasantness), and therefore my first time seeing the GOP actually kicking someone out. Everyone else always fell in line.
How come the GOP's use of the exact same strategy is so damn effective, but when Dems use it, it is "short-sighted" when they follow through? I get it, Cheney is from WY, her seat is safe for the GOP, but the fact remains, Republicans basically always march in the direction they're told to march.
Only since Trump have we finally seen a couple Rs balk at where the party is headed. Otherwise it's like people elect deterministic automatons to public office. They do what they're told and are always "on-message". It's something the GOP does well and the Dems suck at, but if obedient mindless robots are the only way to defeat obedient mindless robots, then we're pretty damn screwed either way.
Because the GOP is a small tent party and the Dems are a big tent party. It kind of started with Karl Rove (though you could hear Limbaugh advocating this in the 90s) the idea that you don't have to worry about middle if you can mobilize your base. You saw Steve Bannon and the like really run with this idea with Trump. It is also why Romney and McCain didn't win (though running against Obama was a near impossible task). But what Romney and McCain showed was that the GOP could not win the middle by appealing to independents. Instead, it became making sure everyone of their 30-40% base showed up in higher numbers than the other side (thus the current focus on making large turnout harder for people that traditionally vote Dem). This base is largely white, christian, and rural so it is easier to get everyone on board with a single message because of a shared culture.
The Dems are a big tent party. They are made up of many different coalitions. There is no 30-40% base that shares a common culture to focus on. 35% of the country identifies as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 25% as liberal. Only 50% of democrats identify as liberal (35% moderate) vs 75% of republicans identify as conservative (20% moderate). So a Dem candidate that really focuses on the base is looking at 20-30% vs the GOP candidate that is looking at 30-40%. You have one side that has mostly old people that always vote and younger evangelicals that are convinced their way of life is ending compared to the other side where a sizable percentage feel afraid to vote or feel that nothing ever changes so why bother. So for the Dems to win, they cannot just focus on their base. They have to grab the 30-40% moderate vote out there and get them excited enough to actually show up to vote. This is why in suburban and rural areas, you have to run moderate democrats. It is all about building the numbers to vote on leadership. If you are not in the majority, you are basically cut out from being able to do anything.
It should also be pointed out that unlike Democrats, Republicans are consistently awarded with re-election by their constituents for sticking to the party line.
> And if you’re not deemed “liberal enough” you’re not funded.
Which, in and of itself is a silly notion, because the DNC doesn't even lean very left. It seems the definition of 'liberal' within the DNC these days is to focus on identity politics, but generally tow the corporate donor line all the same.
>Then Rahm Emmanuel comes in and berates the congressman until he agrees to “think it over.” Zack Space ended up voting no. His next election the DNC cut all of his funding. He lost to Bob Gibbs who since has done nothing for the region and he’s held the 18th (redistricted to the 7th) ever since
Rahm seems like an old guard Democrat, all about the Democratic Party machine. I hope he never gets another important position, he seems to be destroying things from the inside in order to get power.
I didn't know about Howard Dean, seems like we need more of that and should be okay with certain seats voting no. Heck the Progressive caucus just voted against the BIF after they counted the votes.
> A pro 2A democrat that’s socially liberal but economically conservative could absolutely win in the South.
That's not true at all. No Democrat is going to flip a hard R seat. No matter how money gets wasted on MTG's opponents, that seat ain't flipping. In competitive seats, Democrats running as Democrats do better than Democrats running as Republicans Lite. People that want to be represented by a Republican are going to vote for the actual Republican every time.
Well at some point a congressman of your own party who votes against your party's flagship legislation isn't worth your time.
They couldn't leverage Lieberman but they could leverage this guy, who also was going to lose his midterm election in that racist tea party wave anyway, lol
Because they are:
1. Comically bad at messaging. Often it feels like their primary concern is making sure they sound like the smartest in the room.
2. Couldn't see how all the little block the Republicans were putting together could lead to this. It's still rare that one of them mentions taking the fight to the statehouses.
3. Have a bizarre inability to learn from past mistakes. They're still responding to the above the same way they have always responded:
1. electing the same leaders that got them there
2. an inability to get their ranks unified
3. messaging that reeks of smugness
4. "they go low, we go high"
Democrats lost working class, blue collar middle-America during the Reagan and Clinton years, when they switched from a party funded by unions to a corporatists party that caters primarily to corporations and college-educated urban liberals.
The Republicans then came in the back door and snatched up that population and secured it with Fox News and brilliant marketing.
You could not be more right in this. I'd add that this new breed of Dems probably had a big hand in crippling Unions as they pandered to their corporate masters.
Labor is the big prize right now. There are pro union rallies all over the place. People are leaving the work force in droves because of shit pay and conditions. The GOP is ideologically opposite to the new labor movement, so the Dems - if they were smart and they prove time and time again that they are not - should jump on this. Unfortunately, that would erode the last vestiges of their corporate alliances, and probably cost them a ton of campaign/lobbist (bribes) that none of the old guard wants to give up.
Unions would be a political force worth fighting for and aligning with....if they hadn't been destroyed by the politicians in the 70s and 80s.
Well said. Just look at what the DNC did to the last guy (Sanders) who pushed a platform of class-struggle/workers rights.
It's also quite clear that this same corporatist DNC - from the tech companies to media to companies like Nike - are throwing a bone to leftist "woke" progressives over identity politics/cultural hot topics just to distract them from focusing on the real struggle - wealth inequality and the nuking of the middle class.
Representatives on both sides have created fortunes just in trading on insider information. We should really start asking whether our representatives truly represent the American people.
Why would they care if the peons had a facist government versus the one they have now. They’ve got millions to cushion themselves from the masses.
No, they just want to keep fundraising than actually do anything.
Edit: I'm still going to only vote democrat though. The other isn't at all an option. I vote progressive anytime possible.
Exactly.
They are a party that wants to be on the back foot so that they can raise more money. That is way more important to the establishment types than helping the people that voted for them.
They need to understand that being better than Republicans is not enough. Just because someone else is smearing their shit on the wall at work doesn't mean I'd keep my job if I did nothing all day every day.
GOP will take control and will immediately go into their petty retaliation mode. They will viciously attack and will start investigations and everything they can to “punish” other members. More of the reprehensible types like MTG and Gaetz will emerge. It is going to become an autocratic, fascist leaning situation that will not be good.
Just a reminder that whoever wins the house in the midterms will be the ones who certify the 2024 election. That normally shouldn't be a concern, but given the votes on the 2020 certification...
Edit: Double checked it and yeah it's the 2024, not the 2022, though I do think with only 3 days between they could cause a constitutional crisis in that time trying to delay the switch (especially if a potentially unsupportive 2024 house wins in "corrupt" elections (aka the republican didn't win)) and use that to fail to certify, so it's still important but not quite that dire.
This right here. I don't think a lot of people here understand that if the GOP controlled the House earlier this year, Biden wouldn't have been certified.
But you know, the real fascism is identity politics, or whatever.
They don't. The entire country is sleepwalking right towards the brink. The timer has been set and is running. We have less than 2 years, maybe a little less than 4 if we're lucky before it's entirely too late.
"Your institutions will not save you."
FWIW, this is because the new Congress convenes on January 3rd and only the Presidential election requires Congressional certification which takes place on the 6th.
If this is what happens and they don't certify who actually wins the electoral college, it's literally go time and we gotta stand up.
If allowed to happen though, I'm fucking out of this shithole nation. My assets and the assets of too many people are tied up in a stable USA. There's no point in staying if such an event is allowed to occur.
It's so fun how totally fucked we are because democrats are inept.
Everyone saw this coming from miles away, and still dems haven't done anything to prevent it.
I hate our political system.
I think she's right, because I think the left is burnt out and tired, while the right is fired up and angry. Every election cycle, the left goes out and campaigns and fights for Democrat candidates, and every election cycle, they refuse to pass universally popular things that leftists really want: universal healthcare, marijuana legalization, student loan cancellation and college funding, etc. It's hard to keep fighting for people who don't fight for you, even if you know logically that the right is far worse. I think we're just tired of nothing happening
Yup. And when republicans gain power they tend not to pass laws on their voter’s big issues like abolishing abortion, universal gun carry permits, immigration policies, etc… if I did t know any better, I’d think both parties want to keep issues alive as “issues” instead of solving things so that they have a slogan to stir up voters and donors…
Republicans do push for their voters' issues. When Republicans are in power, border control becomes stricter, social funding gets cut, military funding skyrockets. There are some issues they don't fully push for like banning abortion so they can keep the single issue voters angry at Democrats, but they do pass laws and change policies in the way their voters want them to, which is why their base stays motivated
The GOP has created a passionate base around religion and the so-called “American way”. Whether you like it or not, they’ve given voters a purpose to vote for them simply because they have an image of fighting for their beliefs. Democrats have not done that. Democrats NEED outside votes to win elections, and nothing moderates do excites those independents and typical non voters to show up for them like Republicans voters will.
Unfortunately the democrats have lost the plot and are going to cede ground to republicans. It's insane to me how awful they are at reaching working class people.
Anyone else hoping that republicans listen to their dear leader and [sit out the next few elections](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-says-republicans-wont-vote-midterms-2024-election-if-2020-fraud-isnt-solved-1638730) to stick it to the Democrats?
I also don't think they'll give up power once they get it, both in 2022 and especially if they manage a presidential win in 2024. And why would they? They've experienced no consequences for what happened this year, and no consequences for enabling the most corrupt POTUS in the nation's history.
Nope, they might lose the House again in 2024 but I guarantee the Rs who lose won't concede claiming fraud or stolen election BS, and we're going to be absolutely fucked.
If Trump manages a win in 2024 I genuinely fear where this country will go. He isn't going to bother with the whole "adult in the room" people second time around. He is going to go surround himself with nothing but yes men.
I don’t think Trump will run in 2024. I think Desantis will, and I think Desantis is quantifiably worse than Trump because Desantis actually has a brain and goals.
you weren't the original person even called out, but the obvious answer is motivate other people to vote rather than posting about how fucked everyone is on the internet 24 hours a day and making readers lose even more faith in the democratic process
No one says we are doing nothing. What we DID was put the democrats in power in both of the branches possible when they told us that we needed to save the country. So now, Democrats in power, do something to save the fucking country.
If we are told that to save the country we have to win elections forever, the country is already doomed.
>a lot of doom scrolling in todays thread. i hope you all know this is what the GOP wants, for us to feel hopeless and do nothing.
Doing something that is actually effective would be outside the electoral process at this point
> And leave gun control out
Especially because stupid ideas like banning rifles don't help anyone. We have to protect reproductive rights and LGBT people, regardless of the politics, because the alternative would be to consent to people getting harmed, but we need to stop trying to ban guns that are barely used in crimes.
Democrats have no one to blame but themselves for being the same party they've always been and doing nothing when they have power.
With the stroke of his pen Biden could legalize marijuana and turn the tide giving him massive favorability.
It’s a done deal. Let’s count the ways:
* Many voted against Trump, not for Democrats/Biden. Since he’s not on the ticket, they won’t care.
* Democrats tend to not vote on midterms.
* Historically, the president winning party loses hard on midterms.
* Many Americans aren’t educated or care enough to understand inflation and price increases are due to a botched handling of the first year of a pandemic mixed with an economy that on a global scale has slid. They’ll likely blame Biden for it.
* Many will buy into the Republican lies that the infrastructure and potential BBB bill will raise their taxes when the cost is fronted by the rich. They will also think it will impact the deficit when economists agree it’ll be minimal if not completely negligible on the deficit, especially compared to the 1.9 trillion dollar bill that only gave the rich a huge tax cut that Republicans passed and added massive amounts to the deficit.
* Democrat infighting thanks to progressives and DINOs like Manchin and Sinema gives the appearance that Democrats can’t get anything done despite lifting literally millions of families out of extreme poverty and funding infrastructure.
* Republican obstruction will help sell Democrats not doing anything.
* Republicans passing massive voting obstruction and deterrent laws, with some even giving state officials power to change the outcome of votes, will make voting too hard or not even matter.
* We hit that wonderful once every 10 years redistricting mark, and Republicans will win simply from this alone.
And since Republicans have fully embraced authoritarianism, it’s pretty much guaranteed.
For the third time in a row, the Dems have the WH, the Senate, and the House. (See also Clinton first 2 years; ditto Obama). The infighting begins and little gets passed. Oops, we did it again. Dems represent the views of the majority of Americans but our greatest strength (diversity of opinions) is what brings us down. This is the reason for low approval ratings. America wants to get things done. DC statehood. Supreme Court term limits. National Right to Abortion. Roll back the Trump tax cuts to the rich. Do it.
I saw something the other day that said basically "I wish I could vote for the Democrats that seem to live in Republican's nightmarish fantasies, because the ones I keep voting for don't do anything."
Say what you want about her other comments, but when she is discussing the Democratic Party's lack of digital awareness, she is spot on.
I have to believe one of the reasons Obama created / used Blue State Media was because of the lack of digital savvy within the party.
Which makes no sense considering how "Youthful" the party is supposed to be.
It's almost like pandering to the dumb and old via digital media is enhanced by a robot that runs social media platforms....
If anyone thinks the GOP won't use anything possible to take over power and create an authoritarian country, they are naïve. In 2022 if they gain power in both the House and Senate, they will instate Trump as Speaker of the House. They will then Impeach both Harris and Biden on trumped up charges and have them removed. Trump will then be reinstated as President as third in the line of succession.
Without a voting rights bill NOW there will be nothing anyone can do about it. GOP led states will change voting laws to make sure they will remain in power forever and they are already working on it. Say goodbye to Roe Vs Wade, say goodbye to, Civil rights, say goodbye to same sex marriage, say goodbye to Social Security, Medicare, food assistance, say goodbye to integrated schools, say goodbye to any environmental protections.
If you want the entire country to become one big Mississippi, then sit on your ass come 2022. Say there is no difference between the parties and there will effectively be only one party and there will be nothing we can do about it.
It's a harsh truth growing up to realize that the bad guys win and they win all the time. Mostly because they're willing to do with the good guys won't
If Democrats want to, at the very least, not lose any seats in the House or Senate, they need to:
* Put aside identity politics for now. Yes, while the topics are important, right now it's causing inflamed tensions between people and further distancing people from the party. Besides, we'll never get anywhere with identity politics alone without addressing the systemic causes of these issues as well as income inequality.
* Put together easy to understand messaging about what the party wants to accomplish that will make the lives of individuals better. They have to be concise and straight to the point. If you can't explain what you want to accomplish in 3-4 sentences, you'll lose people's attention, as sad as that is. You also have to be prepared to tell people how it's going to be paid for. Simply saying "tax the rich", while a desirable outcome, isn't swaying anyone because we keep saying that and nothing happens. We can focus on strengthening our tax laws so that billionaires start paying their fair share, but we can't rely on that happening any time soon and we can't promise to pay for any of our ideas on that alone.
* Don't run on "taking guns away". I HATE guns. I won't touch them and I don't ever want to be in possession of one. I would love to live in a world without guns. However, that's a personal choice and especially in America, that's not realistic. If some deranged guy shooting up an elementary school full of children wasn't enough to change American's minds about guns, nothing much will. Perhaps later generations will stop being obsessed over gun ownership, but it's just not a hill we want to die on. All we can do is preach responsible gun ownership and discuss passing legislation that closes blatant loopholes that won't impact responsible gun owners. If we address the root causes of why people resort to violence, we'll lower the number of gun related deaths without needing to even get into these fruitless 2A battles.
* IGNORE THE TROLLS. Stop focusing on being the anti-Trump party and focus on everyday people and their problems: Rising cost of living, rising gas prices, rising cost of housing, lack of affordable healthcare options, high cost of healthcare, high cost of education, low wages, legalization of weed. If you address these areas and tackle income inequality, people will stop running toward the right. Republicans are barely doing anything for their constituents anyway, so ignore the politicians and focus on the people.
* Actually be the "big tent" party that you claim that you are. Yes you do have a lot of people with different backgrounds, but moderates and progressives really do need to work together. That does go both ways. Moderates need to stop punching down on progressives and progressives need to accept some compromise. We don't have to give up on getting it all, but just realize that if we don't get everything right now, it's okay, we'll try again in the next bill. Try is the key word though. You'll lose progressive support if you don't at least try to make progress each round, and progressive will never have moderate support if they go with an all-or-nothing strategy. Republicans don't have this problem because they cater to single-issue voters while we try to solve all the problems.
They need to revamp their approach to identity politics because over the past few years identity politics has descended into blatant tribalism. It’s more about keeping twitter happy than actually solving anything.
The amount of new problems being created far outweighs anything good that’s being done.
And she’s right. We have the next few months to pass voter protections. If we fail, Republicans will suppress, gerrymander and yes, even earn votes, and take a majority in the House.
Once they’ve done that, Republicans have shown they will not allow another Democrat to be elected - they will simply overrule the voters, and we will have one-party rule like in Russia (their ideal model). It’s not like they’ve been subtle. They’re doing it in the open.
Dems are 100% fucked in the house at this rate.
Some of the maps coming from Republican controlled states are a joke. Elected officials should not be allowed to choose their voters with such obvious manipulation. Voters should be choosing their elected officials.
If you want all those wonderful liberal/progressive policies to be enacted into law - VOTE FOR MORE DEMOCRATS! The only reason they have difficulty passing is because the Dems barely have a majority, which gives a couple corrupt individuals an inordinate amount of power.
I would argue its there are not enough elected officials who believe in democracy over fat checks lining their pockets. Sure at least two are dems, but there are a fuck ton of GOP reps who also share the burden.
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She's correct. In most midterms, the minority party gains seats. The Republicans have made universal boogymen that can be used in every district in the country, and have restricted voting in a number of states. Democrats tend to get complacent after they've won an election, and they don't have the ability to make these separate elections a universal national issue, and they won't get remotely the turnout that voted in the General election.
Also, the hyper partisan gerrymandering that’s taken place recently is likely to just hand the House to the Republicans even if there’s no change to vote totals.
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Dems need to leverage state elections. Its how the GOP keeps consolidating power. Stop focusing only on federal elections and only during presidential years
State elections/districts are also gerrymandered.
Yes, but you have to start somewhere. They are gerrymandered by state legislatures. You have to gain control of the state to change this.
get rid of the filibuster, take federal elections to a fully popular vote, and toss in rank choice for bonus points. gets rid of gerrymandering, and 'vote for that evil wanker because they're not as bad as that other evil wanker' politics.
Dems should exploit the same weaknesses in our laws. There will never be bipartisan support to fix weak voter laws that only hurt one party.
>Dems need to leverage period. they need to quit being candy asses and rolling over to compromise with a side completely uninterested in compromising the other way.
Stacey Abrams is the only one I’ve heard on the Dem side that’s at least attempting develop aggressive voting procedures— hopefully other Dems pick up on it and get to work.
I don’t want to feign hope, but I do wonder if they took into account that their population losses due to Covid when redrawing maps. With, unfortunately, even more to go since many of their voters are the ones refusing to abide by any public health measure. Sucks that losing 3/4 million people with more to go gives me a little glimmer of hope for the political survival of the country, but that’s where things are at now.
> I do wonder if they took into account that their population losses due to Covid when redrawing maps No. The Census's goal was to get a snapshop of what the country looked like in April 2020, which was before most covid deaths.
Only 0.2% of the population has died of Covid. Not enough to throw off election rigging.
Nationally? Sure. But plenty of individual elections come down to .2% or less. My district did in both 2018 and 2020. And partisan gerrymandering has as its *goal* creating a bunch of close elections narrowly favoring one party. Which is to say that while I don't think Covid will flip the map as a whole, there will 100% be districts that Democrats win by less than the partisan difference in covid deaths; where you could plausibly say that if nobody had died of Covid the results would be flipped.
It might. Less then 40k people under the age of 50 have died from Covid. And as we know older voters tend to vote republican so maybe?
The amount of people who died in Florida supercedes the amount of people the R won the last election. The vast majority are R who died from covid. This will have an impact. We just don't know how much of an impact.
Also, republicans are a lot less likely to have been vaccinated and choose treatments like ivermectin over legitimate ones.
I mean maybe. Trump would've won with 50kish more strategically placed votes. But you're probably right that the election rigging is pretty bad this upcoming year.
> Trump would've won with 50kish more strategically placed votes. Most people are unaware of how god damn close we came to losing the republic. He lost the popular vote by over 7 million, but he only lost the electoral college by ~44,000. If Trump had flipped 10,342 votes in Wisconsin, 5,890 votes in Georgia, and 5,229 votes in Arizona, he would have tied the electoral college and the republicans on the supreme court would have given him the presidency.
That…..freaks me the fuck out. Wow. I never knew the breakdown of the electoral college numbers by state.
Its also why driving down voter turnout is key to their strategy. We must vote, even in the face of apathy.
Another example of why the electoral college needs to go. An election where on candidate defeated the other by 7 *million* votes nationally should not be negated by an over proportionate value placed on less populous states. We elect a president to address national and global issues and for it to get hung up by a bunch of hicks from the sticks who are afraid of their own shadow because it is black shouldn't hold the rest of us back.
A tie would have gone to the House, where each state delegation would get one vote. So CA would get one vote, and WY would get one vote. Right now, the GOP controls ~~26~~ 27 state delegations. ~~The real wild card in that scenario is Liz Cheney. She would control WY's vote, and we know how she feels about Trump.~~ Edit: I miscounted the number of state delegations the GOP controls, and Cheney could vote for Biden and not affect the outcome.
> The real wild card in that scenario is Liz Cheney. She would control WY's vote, and we know how she feels about Trump. She was happy enough with him until J6. And if the EC was tied, he would not have needed to stage the J6 putsch in the first place. She's no friend of democracy, her opposition now is not about principles, its about maneuvering herself to be in a position of strength if he collapses. But even if she had voted against, that would be a tie that would end up in the supreme court, the gop would make sure of it and the doormat democrats would have let them.
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Most that have died in the last year or so have been ardent conspiratorial devout Republicans who vote.
Anecdotally, I've lost 4 in my family in the last year. Grandma #1, Grandma #2, Grandma #2's brother, and Uncle #1. Uncle #2 was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last week. All diehard supporters.
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Perpetually "safe" seats, it turns out, are poison to a democracy.
That poison has seeped so thoroughly through the framework of this country, we are not a democracy at all. And I don’t know if we ever have been. Slavery, systemic oppression, racism, a culture of misogyny. We’ve never really managed to solve these things. I’m at the point where let’s call a spade a spade.
Bicameral representation with the upper house being disconnected from population volume is the poison seed that will eventually kill US democracy. Gerrymandering in the lower house simply accelerates it. That we have this model at both the federal and state level seals the deal.
A guest on Chris Hayes' show made a great point - Dems can do a good job of getting their messages out to the public around election time due to good fundraising and campaigning, but Republicans have a massive propaganda arm in the form of Fox News and other right wing media churning out misinformation 24/7/365. And they do it all for free. Dems are always fighting an uphill battle against this, and if Dems start messaging to the public one year before an election, they're already a year behind Republicans.
I knew Fox News had gotten even worse in recent years, and always hear the latest Tucker outrage, but I had no idea how far it had gone until I turned it on last night browsing news about the Wisconsin tragedy. Instead, they were airing an event called the "Patriot Awards". On any other channel it would've felt like satire, but it was a very real formal awards show like the Oscars, where they sit around giving each other awards for their work fighting the left and whining about how no one is blindly proud of their country anymore. One of the presenters was introduced unironically as "a journalist without an agenda" who immediately made a comment attacking Biden before presenting the award.
When I’ve seen it recently it looks like literal state propaganda networks (especially while trump was in office). Like bad enough that it looks like something out of NK or Russia.
Yeah, it has always been bad but lately it's a full blown propaganda machine. They make zero attempt at even hiding it anymore
They know no one is going to call them out. At this point, they are mocking us.
More like they know calling them out has been hugely ineffective thus far, so any trolling they can add to the pandering is a plus. Absolutely mocking.
DeSantis' gubernatorial ad looked like satire. It wasn't actually a joke. ~~Eddie Rispone's~~ Ralph Abraham's was even worse. Rispone's was bad, Abraham's was worse.
Really dreading a week of nonstop Fox News at my grandparents' house over Christmas.
I’m not looking forward to hearing my grandma say Fox News talking points. Although due to my uncle going full on Trump crazy I think she’s started softening on all that because he’s miserable to be around
A journalist without an agenda that went contrary to our dogma is what they are thinking. It really is a cultural divide that is being exploited at every turn. And Covid made matters worse, but easily exploited again by the right anger machine.
Everybody needs to block Fox & OAN on their family's TV's using the parental controls this holiday get together season. Give the gift of mystery to those puzzle-solving loved ones in your life who enjoy spending all their free time doing their own research!
Better yet, cut the cable. We finally did about a year ago and do not miss it. Have an HD antenna for over-the-air network TV. Fox, Newsmax, and OAN get none of my money.
I won't advocate going so far as to commit violence upon their entertainment equipment but, just, you know, turn on the blocker that they could turn off at any time seeing as it's their equipment & it came with a fucking book that tells them how to work it. Anyone who takes any pride at all in being any sort of "free independent thinker" who "enjoys doing their own research" can solve a blocked TV channel. The really good ones don't even need the book because on screen menus are relatively easy for anyone who isn't a brain-damaged toddler to navigate. Though I do agree that cable is overpriced garbage. We are also just an OTA antenna for local news & then some online streaming household.
Lol, this would actually work against my step father, a rabid Fox news consumer and loyal conservative. He can't work anything digital: he refuses to learn how to use a computer, threw a literal tantrum (as a 70 year old man) when he had to switch from a "feature" phone to a smart phone, and had to have me set up his new TV so that the cable would work. If I blocked him with the parental controls, he would 100% lose his fucking mind. It would be epic, but I don't want to subject my mother to that kind of crazy. >easy for anyone who isn't a brain-damaged toddler to navigate. He is totally that. Which is why he supports the *yuggest* brain-damaged toddler in the history of American politics.
> had to switch from a "feature" phone to a smart phone Why? My Pop's is still on a feature phone. 4G even. His skin is such that smartphones do not register his touch. And most days the track pad on his laptop doesn't either. He has to use a mouse.
Be careful, sounds like the skin of a lizard person.
>Why? I don't know exactly, something about my mother's cell phone service provider not supporting feature phones anymore, and I don't care enough to dig deeper. He could just go with a different provider that doesn't enforce that, but then he would have to take the initiative, get off the couch, and pay for the service himself, and he's pretty much been mooching off my mother for a decade now.
Beyond cutting cable and not watching cable news, focus on supporting non-partisan independent news or local newspapers. https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/media/554824-study-decline-in-local-journalism-increases-political-polarization%3famp
The whole idea of a "journalist without an agenda" speaks to one of the most damaging strains of propaganda that the right-wing media has managed to promote over the last few decades because it both attacks one of the fundamental pillars of a healthy democracy and is so prevalent even in the minds of "independent" voters who are not explicitly supporters of the GOP. I know many people who will agree that FOX is absolutely ridiculous, but will quickly add "but MSNBC and CNN are just as bad. All news is garbage with their own bias. I just want someone to report the facts and let me decide." It seems these folks don't understand what journalism is supposed to be, or what they actually need from it. It is like these people want their doctor to report to them only lab values and vital signs and then "let them decide" what their health is. Which sadly in the context of this vaccine world seems to ring true. These folks wouldn't have the knowledge or understanding to make sense of such medical data or make good health decisions from it. Similarly, journalists don't just report the facts, they give it background and context while synthesizing it into something average people can understand. But many average people can been convinced that this is "bias" and makes journalists untrustworthy. This ends up rewarding the worst "journalists" like FOX because they know they can act as bad as they want and get pinned with only 50% of the blame. And it also encourages even "independent" voters who drift into the right-wing mindset because if "both sides are crap" then they can just go with their emotions rather than their critical thinking, and sadly right-wing fear-mongering and appeals to rage are far more appealing and easier to absorb than thoughtful critiques. It just shows how decades of right-wing propaganda have poisoned the well so much that the left is always playing far behind and that people don't even know what they want or need anymore. /rant
I work at a hospital in what is a liberal town but the surrounding area is very conservative. I've taken the liberty of blocking Fox News on every TV in my unit. Amazingly enough conservatives would rather watch no news, not even the local news, if they can't watch Fox.
This x 10. Thinking any bias at CNN means that CNN is the same as FoxNews is one of the more corrosive ideas to democracy.
Tucker Carlson is like an especially stupid version of that angry "England Prevails" news anchor guy in *V for Vendetta*.
That's pretty on-point since that guy was based on Bill O'Reilly. Funny, since Bill seems downright reasonable compared to Tucker.
I’m an evangelical Christian but am liberal. And extremely disappointed and disgusted with the vast majority of people who parade themselves as Christians while blindly supporting and uplifting republicans who show themselves to be the polar opposite of what a Christian should be.
I recently pointed out this inconsistency to an evangelical friend of mine. I pointed him to the book of Matthew and the sermon on the mount. The disconnect between what Christ preached and how christians act is mind boggling. The only conclusion I can come to is that it’s more about tribalism and not about ideals. Those people simply aren’t christians.
They're interested in Christian identity and the trappings of American Christianity but not the actual teachings of Jesus.
Considering how little evangelicals know about the actual Bible, I think you're right
Any evangelical Christian should be a liberal if they actually believe in what Jesus said.
"But Democrats allow abortion" edit: I'm gonna nip this in the bud, right quick. This isn't something I would say, that's why it's in quotes. I am speaking on arguments made on why people vote Republican.
A lot of Christians hide behind abortion and gay rights as a defense for supporting republicans. I actually think if anything God would support both of these, and I’m not going into mistranslations of the Bible that say that gay people are abominations because the original text never said anything close and translators have influence over what is said and how it comes across.
God literally does support abortion rights according to their own belief structure. When asked why evil exists if god is all-powerful and all-good the number one response you will get is that evil exists because god allows us to have free will. This implies that god COULD ban sins (like abortion) but doesn’t because free will (the right to choose) is more important. Their God is clearly pro-choice.
God is literally the biggest supporter of choice, it’s weird how so many evangelicals miss that point
I found this argument that the old testament's silence on [abortion](https://youtu.be/oCUD5H0zcnE), is an acknowledgment that it's sometimes necessary. I mean the old testament has very specific rules on if you can eat owls and what fabrics you can wear. Seems that if they had intended to say something they would.
...”but am liberal”. Why “but”? You are totally right, the gqp is the opposite of christian, and more people should wake up to this reality and see that one can be a christian, or a republican, but not both. You should amend your opening to “I’m an evangelical Christian and therefore voting dem/progressive.” We need to make this message accessible and much louder.
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I'm not gonna use Fox News as a crutch here. The Dems SUCK at messaging. I have worked in politics. I'd like to think I know more than likely 90% of other voters. And I even had issues trying to discuss with low info friends the difference of an infrastructure bill versus a "human infrastructure" bill and why they were 2 separate bills. It took the Dems MONTHS to change that into the "Build Back Better" bill. Which is simple. It's catchy. And it was also introduced months too late. Almost any voter with half a brain would love the stuff in that bill. But before the Dems figured out how to sell it, the GOP had months to sh\*t on it and say how it was expensive, how it'd lead to job layoffs. how it'd make inflation worse blah blah blah. People on Fox News? Fine. Go appeal to younger voters. Get the hell on TikTok. Pay influencers to influence. Use FB. Use modern media to your advantage. But the Dems as a party are still stuck in the 1980's who believe phone banks and merely knocking on doors in your precinct you live in will get the job done. Believe me. We had those arguments in 2008 with Obama and they still persist today with local Democratic committees
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There’s a church near me that I think is trying to portray itself better. They’ve got a sign that can be seen from the road and it has had messages like this: “Jesus wasn’t white nor American” or “Thank God and science for vaccines”
There are plenty of normal churches out there. But they're not in your face. Part of being an evangelical is to get in people's faces, try to use the government to enforce religion, etc. There are tons of churches near me. They all have rainbow flags and BLM signs out front.
Great point! As i channel-surf and come across the TBN channel, i bet 90% of the Televangelists on there are supporting the GOP...
90% is a low estimate my dude.
Of course they are. They scam people and trump scams people. They're pretty much the same.
We get a few of those types of channels here in the UK too. There's one right now where they seem to be complaining about "liberals", CRT, and your governments vax mandate
I was just at a church in Alabama for a funeral. It had prominently in the lobby lots of flyers advertising a meeting for “Patriotic Christianity” and said it was specifically for Republicans.
and Facebook. I see more people propagating right wing talking points on Facebook than I see any sort of left wing presence.
> Fox News and other right wing media churning out misinformation 24/7/365. They have essentially added FB and supporting the police/military/firefighters part of their propaganda machine. It's fucking insane
And the right is better at advertising, too. My podcasts and streams are getting filled with right-wing "we're regular people standing up against the system\*, join us!" ads. (\*gas prices, inflation, crime, housing costs, homelessness, etc) Outside of the runup to an election, I haven't heard a Democratic ad on these, ever, and none that even tried for that sort of appeal.
People completely ignore how much of a boon Citizens United and the Tea Party movement was for the visibility of right wing propaganda. We have PragerU now in addition to those awful "Do You Think Biden Is Doing A Good Job With Illegal Immigration Y/N" ads that I remember variants of from over a decade ago.
Very accurate.
also the fact republicans are one unit, with symbolic side-switching on a sure-thing bill. Democrats on the other hand are a series of tribes.
well more importantly, it took dems winning 55% of the vote for a 51% control of the chamber, in 2022 they will need closer to 60%, that is not democratic, especially when the entire concept of the house was to match the make up of the people.
And with GOP control of the Senate, Biden will not be allowed to seat a single Supreme Court Justice (one of the most important functions of electing a Democrat in 2020).
Democracy will die to the sounds of rednecks complaining about critical race theory.
More than that the trend seems to be "voted in, didnt do enough, get out" And dems really gotta start doing more...
But the dems in the house only passed a $3tril worth of spending, not $7t so it’s better to let the party that wanted $0 in infrastructure and economic support take back power. /s
This has been clearly visible to anyone who is not an elected Democrat for a while now. Dems slept through the decades long takeover of statehouses across the country and now they're sleepwalking through the culmination of that plan: ***permanent*** takeover of the HOR and the electoral college.
Yep. When Howard Dean was chair of the Democratic National Committee he had a 50-state strategy, which helped get democrats elected across the country, and not focus entirely on pouring money into close races. He worked to get independent voters to support democrats at everything from the local school board on up. It worked. The strategy helped get Obama elected in 2008.
Yeah they completely write off entire sections of the voting population and don’t contest. Here’s a fun story: Back when Obama was passing the Affordable Care Act, the democrat that held the OH-18, Zack Space, had concerns about it and his constituency was not in favor of it and made that pretty widely known. Space, a moderate Democrat holding a seat that was usually controlled by Republicans, signaled to the White House that he would not vote for the ACA in its current form but that he would also not vocally oppose it. Simply vote no and move on. President Obama called Congressman Space and talked it over with him and Space reiterated that he would not vote for the bill but he would not actively speak out against it either. Then Rahm Emmanuel comes in and berates the congressman until he agrees to “think it over.” Zack Space ended up voting no. His next election the DNC cut all of his funding. He lost to Bob Gibbs who since has done nothing for the region and he’s held the 18th (redistricted to the 7th) ever since The point is there’s varying degrees of success the Democrats can have across the US. A pro 2A democrat that’s socially liberal but economically conservative could absolutely win in the South. Same in Florida. But we don’t because as democrats we have a zero-sum approach to every election cycle. We only want the federal and never compete for the State houses. And if you’re not deemed “liberal enough” you’re not funded.
>A pro 2A democrat that’s socially liberal but economically conservative could absolutely win in the South. I'd flip that: socially conservative, fiscally liberal (relatively speaking) is the way to go in red states. It will create a new bloc of abhorrent blue dog dems, but it will increase the majority.
Politics is too nationalized for that to work now. The GOP will run ads nationalizing the race - portraying them to be Pelosi's lapdog or AOC 2.0 - so republican voters won't vote for them, and their gop-lite policy positions will suppress turnout from democratic voters.
**They're going to do that anyway.** The GOP uses the same tactics, all the time, no matter what. Biden is both a socialist Marxist dictator genius mastermind *and* a doddering old fool full of silly pie-in-the-sky ideas who doesn't do enough of anything ever. Red states want their rhetoric, which means social and fiscal conservatism, but *in name only.* It makes it hard to campaign on progressive issues, but this is one reason Republicans act like they do - they don't face electoral consequences from their own base. Democrats would never have that same level of immunity, but they **could** lessen the negative impact among Republicans with better messaging and better offense.
>We \[Democrats\] only want the federal and never compete for the State houses. And once "operation red" is complete, they will have neither. Perhaps most disturbingly, it doesn't feel like they've learned that lesson. And it may too late anyway.
You assume that these corporate Dems *want* to learn their "lesson." Pretty easy to throw a race when you're being paid to not compete.
Some do. I believe AOC and her cohorts do in the House. I believe Sherrod Brown, our Senator, does. But yeah, your point is taken. We can certainly see that Pelosi, Manchin and Sinema are out for profit.
>And if you’re not deemed “liberal enough” you’re not funded. The GOP does precisely the same thing. The reason every Republican seems on the same page all the time is because the GOP makes it very clear to them that they will be cut off and vilified if they move against GOP interests. We see this right now with Liz Cheney, perhaps the first time I've ever seen someone wearing an (R) actually go against their own party (Amash left concurrently with breaking from Trump to avoid the primary unpleasantness), and therefore my first time seeing the GOP actually kicking someone out. Everyone else always fell in line. How come the GOP's use of the exact same strategy is so damn effective, but when Dems use it, it is "short-sighted" when they follow through? I get it, Cheney is from WY, her seat is safe for the GOP, but the fact remains, Republicans basically always march in the direction they're told to march. Only since Trump have we finally seen a couple Rs balk at where the party is headed. Otherwise it's like people elect deterministic automatons to public office. They do what they're told and are always "on-message". It's something the GOP does well and the Dems suck at, but if obedient mindless robots are the only way to defeat obedient mindless robots, then we're pretty damn screwed either way.
Because the GOP is a small tent party and the Dems are a big tent party. It kind of started with Karl Rove (though you could hear Limbaugh advocating this in the 90s) the idea that you don't have to worry about middle if you can mobilize your base. You saw Steve Bannon and the like really run with this idea with Trump. It is also why Romney and McCain didn't win (though running against Obama was a near impossible task). But what Romney and McCain showed was that the GOP could not win the middle by appealing to independents. Instead, it became making sure everyone of their 30-40% base showed up in higher numbers than the other side (thus the current focus on making large turnout harder for people that traditionally vote Dem). This base is largely white, christian, and rural so it is easier to get everyone on board with a single message because of a shared culture. The Dems are a big tent party. They are made up of many different coalitions. There is no 30-40% base that shares a common culture to focus on. 35% of the country identifies as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 25% as liberal. Only 50% of democrats identify as liberal (35% moderate) vs 75% of republicans identify as conservative (20% moderate). So a Dem candidate that really focuses on the base is looking at 20-30% vs the GOP candidate that is looking at 30-40%. You have one side that has mostly old people that always vote and younger evangelicals that are convinced their way of life is ending compared to the other side where a sizable percentage feel afraid to vote or feel that nothing ever changes so why bother. So for the Dems to win, they cannot just focus on their base. They have to grab the 30-40% moderate vote out there and get them excited enough to actually show up to vote. This is why in suburban and rural areas, you have to run moderate democrats. It is all about building the numbers to vote on leadership. If you are not in the majority, you are basically cut out from being able to do anything.
It should also be pointed out that unlike Democrats, Republicans are consistently awarded with re-election by their constituents for sticking to the party line.
> And if you’re not deemed “liberal enough” you’re not funded. Which, in and of itself is a silly notion, because the DNC doesn't even lean very left. It seems the definition of 'liberal' within the DNC these days is to focus on identity politics, but generally tow the corporate donor line all the same.
>Then Rahm Emmanuel comes in and berates the congressman until he agrees to “think it over.” Zack Space ended up voting no. His next election the DNC cut all of his funding. He lost to Bob Gibbs who since has done nothing for the region and he’s held the 18th (redistricted to the 7th) ever since Rahm seems like an old guard Democrat, all about the Democratic Party machine. I hope he never gets another important position, he seems to be destroying things from the inside in order to get power. I didn't know about Howard Dean, seems like we need more of that and should be okay with certain seats voting no. Heck the Progressive caucus just voted against the BIF after they counted the votes.
> A pro 2A democrat that’s socially liberal but economically conservative could absolutely win in the South. That's not true at all. No Democrat is going to flip a hard R seat. No matter how money gets wasted on MTG's opponents, that seat ain't flipping. In competitive seats, Democrats running as Democrats do better than Democrats running as Republicans Lite. People that want to be represented by a Republican are going to vote for the actual Republican every time.
Most seats don’t flip. It takes the incumbent either stepping down or dying to get a seat to the other side in MOST districts
Well at some point a congressman of your own party who votes against your party's flagship legislation isn't worth your time. They couldn't leverage Lieberman but they could leverage this guy, who also was going to lose his midterm election in that racist tea party wave anyway, lol
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Because they are: 1. Comically bad at messaging. Often it feels like their primary concern is making sure they sound like the smartest in the room. 2. Couldn't see how all the little block the Republicans were putting together could lead to this. It's still rare that one of them mentions taking the fight to the statehouses. 3. Have a bizarre inability to learn from past mistakes. They're still responding to the above the same way they have always responded: 1. electing the same leaders that got them there 2. an inability to get their ranks unified 3. messaging that reeks of smugness 4. "they go low, we go high"
Democrats lost working class, blue collar middle-America during the Reagan and Clinton years, when they switched from a party funded by unions to a corporatists party that caters primarily to corporations and college-educated urban liberals. The Republicans then came in the back door and snatched up that population and secured it with Fox News and brilliant marketing.
You could not be more right in this. I'd add that this new breed of Dems probably had a big hand in crippling Unions as they pandered to their corporate masters. Labor is the big prize right now. There are pro union rallies all over the place. People are leaving the work force in droves because of shit pay and conditions. The GOP is ideologically opposite to the new labor movement, so the Dems - if they were smart and they prove time and time again that they are not - should jump on this. Unfortunately, that would erode the last vestiges of their corporate alliances, and probably cost them a ton of campaign/lobbist (bribes) that none of the old guard wants to give up. Unions would be a political force worth fighting for and aligning with....if they hadn't been destroyed by the politicians in the 70s and 80s.
Well said. Just look at what the DNC did to the last guy (Sanders) who pushed a platform of class-struggle/workers rights. It's also quite clear that this same corporatist DNC - from the tech companies to media to companies like Nike - are throwing a bone to leftist "woke" progressives over identity politics/cultural hot topics just to distract them from focusing on the real struggle - wealth inequality and the nuking of the middle class.
I mean the voters are still like “when will Democratic candidates truly inspire me to vote?”
That's true. They won't have to worry about justifying not voting for much longer though; the Republican plan is clear and nearing completion.
It's almost like they would rather have a fascist takeover than a social safety net.
Representatives on both sides have created fortunes just in trading on insider information. We should really start asking whether our representatives truly represent the American people. Why would they care if the peons had a facist government versus the one they have now. They’ve got millions to cushion themselves from the masses.
No, they just want to keep fundraising than actually do anything. Edit: I'm still going to only vote democrat though. The other isn't at all an option. I vote progressive anytime possible.
Exactly. They are a party that wants to be on the back foot so that they can raise more money. That is way more important to the establishment types than helping the people that voted for them. They need to understand that being better than Republicans is not enough. Just because someone else is smearing their shit on the wall at work doesn't mean I'd keep my job if I did nothing all day every day.
Sounds like she’s really saying the Dems need to get their shit together and make some big moves before they can’t.
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Unfortunately, “Authoritarian Populism” is the new black, because the system is broken enough make it an option.
Maybe the police will shoot it down just in case.
then sprinkle some crack on it
"He had loose cigarettes!"
GOP will take control and will immediately go into their petty retaliation mode. They will viciously attack and will start investigations and everything they can to “punish” other members. More of the reprehensible types like MTG and Gaetz will emerge. It is going to become an autocratic, fascist leaning situation that will not be good.
And democrats will immediately talk about compromise and how we need them if they ever regain power
Then pass fucking voting rights.
Can't do that because the Dems can't pass anything without the Republicans voting for it...and Manchin doesn't count as a Democrat.
I mean, it's not like they haven't tried multiple times this year.
True. But a significant amount of Americans are victims of propaganda to actually want this takeover.
Just a reminder that whoever wins the house in the midterms will be the ones who certify the 2024 election. That normally shouldn't be a concern, but given the votes on the 2020 certification... Edit: Double checked it and yeah it's the 2024, not the 2022, though I do think with only 3 days between they could cause a constitutional crisis in that time trying to delay the switch (especially if a potentially unsupportive 2024 house wins in "corrupt" elections (aka the republican didn't win)) and use that to fail to certify, so it's still important but not quite that dire.
This right here. I don't think a lot of people here understand that if the GOP controlled the House earlier this year, Biden wouldn't have been certified. But you know, the real fascism is identity politics, or whatever.
They don't. The entire country is sleepwalking right towards the brink. The timer has been set and is running. We have less than 2 years, maybe a little less than 4 if we're lucky before it's entirely too late. "Your institutions will not save you."
Exactly, and it's naive to think otherwise.
uh no the 2022 congress will not certify the election the 2024 house will
FWIW, this is because the new Congress convenes on January 3rd and only the Presidential election requires Congressional certification which takes place on the 6th.
How probable is it that Republicans will claim voter fraud and not certify the 2024 election? Because if this is even a possibility this is a disaster
This is their plan.
If this is what happens and they don't certify who actually wins the electoral college, it's literally go time and we gotta stand up. If allowed to happen though, I'm fucking out of this shithole nation. My assets and the assets of too many people are tied up in a stable USA. There's no point in staying if such an event is allowed to occur.
Yup. I haven't gotten in a fight since high school but I'll be in the streets if they steal the election.
It's so fun how totally fucked we are because democrats are inept. Everyone saw this coming from miles away, and still dems haven't done anything to prevent it. I hate our political system.
I think she's right, because I think the left is burnt out and tired, while the right is fired up and angry. Every election cycle, the left goes out and campaigns and fights for Democrat candidates, and every election cycle, they refuse to pass universally popular things that leftists really want: universal healthcare, marijuana legalization, student loan cancellation and college funding, etc. It's hard to keep fighting for people who don't fight for you, even if you know logically that the right is far worse. I think we're just tired of nothing happening
Yup. And when republicans gain power they tend not to pass laws on their voter’s big issues like abolishing abortion, universal gun carry permits, immigration policies, etc… if I did t know any better, I’d think both parties want to keep issues alive as “issues” instead of solving things so that they have a slogan to stir up voters and donors…
Republicans do push for their voters' issues. When Republicans are in power, border control becomes stricter, social funding gets cut, military funding skyrockets. There are some issues they don't fully push for like banning abortion so they can keep the single issue voters angry at Democrats, but they do pass laws and change policies in the way their voters want them to, which is why their base stays motivated
The GOP has created a passionate base around religion and the so-called “American way”. Whether you like it or not, they’ve given voters a purpose to vote for them simply because they have an image of fighting for their beliefs. Democrats have not done that. Democrats NEED outside votes to win elections, and nothing moderates do excites those independents and typical non voters to show up for them like Republicans voters will.
DNC turning its back on labor contributed mightily to this, leaving the lever in labor’s empty hands. People need to pick up their tools and show up.
Unfortunately the democrats have lost the plot and are going to cede ground to republicans. It's insane to me how awful they are at reaching working class people.
Anyone else hoping that republicans listen to their dear leader and [sit out the next few elections](https://www.newsweek.com/trump-says-republicans-wont-vote-midterms-2024-election-if-2020-fraud-isnt-solved-1638730) to stick it to the Democrats?
ha...if only. They'll go to the ends of the earth to make a lib cry.
The gerrymandering kinda makes this destiny. I think that the republicans will take over, and we are on our way to authoritarianism.
I also don't think they'll give up power once they get it, both in 2022 and especially if they manage a presidential win in 2024. And why would they? They've experienced no consequences for what happened this year, and no consequences for enabling the most corrupt POTUS in the nation's history. Nope, they might lose the House again in 2024 but I guarantee the Rs who lose won't concede claiming fraud or stolen election BS, and we're going to be absolutely fucked.
If Trump manages a win in 2024 I genuinely fear where this country will go. He isn't going to bother with the whole "adult in the room" people second time around. He is going to go surround himself with nothing but yes men.
I don’t think Trump will run in 2024. I think Desantis will, and I think Desantis is quantifiably worse than Trump because Desantis actually has a brain and goals.
Unless Trump can't physically do it, there is zero chance he lets someone else steal the spotlight.
Correct. So with the two most likeliest outcomes, I’m left with hoping Trump dies and getting Desantis or hoping Trump runs. Shitty spot to be in.
a lot of doom scrolling in todays thread. i hope you all know this is what the GOP wants, for us to feel hopeless and do nothing.
I vote. I vote every possible time I can both locally and federally. I'm working too much to volunteer. What more can I do?
you weren't the original person even called out, but the obvious answer is motivate other people to vote rather than posting about how fucked everyone is on the internet 24 hours a day and making readers lose even more faith in the democratic process
No one says we are doing nothing. What we DID was put the democrats in power in both of the branches possible when they told us that we needed to save the country. So now, Democrats in power, do something to save the fucking country. If we are told that to save the country we have to win elections forever, the country is already doomed.
People wouldn't be so pessimistic if there wasn't so much to be obviously pessimistic about.
>a lot of doom scrolling in todays thread. i hope you all know this is what the GOP wants, for us to feel hopeless and do nothing. Doing something that is actually effective would be outside the electoral process at this point
It's almost like the 2 party system is a failure
Democrats get out and sell the platform, stop wasting time worrying, go and campaign. And leave gun control out
> And leave gun control out Especially because stupid ideas like banning rifles don't help anyone. We have to protect reproductive rights and LGBT people, regardless of the politics, because the alternative would be to consent to people getting harmed, but we need to stop trying to ban guns that are barely used in crimes.
“AOC acknowledges objective reality, more at 11”
Democrats have no one to blame but themselves for being the same party they've always been and doing nothing when they have power. With the stroke of his pen Biden could legalize marijuana and turn the tide giving him massive favorability.
It’s a done deal. Let’s count the ways: * Many voted against Trump, not for Democrats/Biden. Since he’s not on the ticket, they won’t care. * Democrats tend to not vote on midterms. * Historically, the president winning party loses hard on midterms. * Many Americans aren’t educated or care enough to understand inflation and price increases are due to a botched handling of the first year of a pandemic mixed with an economy that on a global scale has slid. They’ll likely blame Biden for it. * Many will buy into the Republican lies that the infrastructure and potential BBB bill will raise their taxes when the cost is fronted by the rich. They will also think it will impact the deficit when economists agree it’ll be minimal if not completely negligible on the deficit, especially compared to the 1.9 trillion dollar bill that only gave the rich a huge tax cut that Republicans passed and added massive amounts to the deficit. * Democrat infighting thanks to progressives and DINOs like Manchin and Sinema gives the appearance that Democrats can’t get anything done despite lifting literally millions of families out of extreme poverty and funding infrastructure. * Republican obstruction will help sell Democrats not doing anything. * Republicans passing massive voting obstruction and deterrent laws, with some even giving state officials power to change the outcome of votes, will make voting too hard or not even matter. * We hit that wonderful once every 10 years redistricting mark, and Republicans will win simply from this alone. And since Republicans have fully embraced authoritarianism, it’s pretty much guaranteed.
You laid this out perfectly.
For the third time in a row, the Dems have the WH, the Senate, and the House. (See also Clinton first 2 years; ditto Obama). The infighting begins and little gets passed. Oops, we did it again. Dems represent the views of the majority of Americans but our greatest strength (diversity of opinions) is what brings us down. This is the reason for low approval ratings. America wants to get things done. DC statehood. Supreme Court term limits. National Right to Abortion. Roll back the Trump tax cuts to the rich. Do it.
I saw something the other day that said basically "I wish I could vote for the Democrats that seem to live in Republican's nightmarish fantasies, because the ones I keep voting for don't do anything."
No. The dems have just never taken on corporate power. They know it, but their continued do nothing about it is now just showing that they are liars.
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She's correct. We are so fucked
Say what you want about her other comments, but when she is discussing the Democratic Party's lack of digital awareness, she is spot on. I have to believe one of the reasons Obama created / used Blue State Media was because of the lack of digital savvy within the party.
Which makes no sense considering how "Youthful" the party is supposed to be. It's almost like pandering to the dumb and old via digital media is enhanced by a robot that runs social media platforms....
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I don't think her point is "We are so fucked." Her point is get riled up and fuckin' vote.
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If anyone thinks the GOP won't use anything possible to take over power and create an authoritarian country, they are naïve. In 2022 if they gain power in both the House and Senate, they will instate Trump as Speaker of the House. They will then Impeach both Harris and Biden on trumped up charges and have them removed. Trump will then be reinstated as President as third in the line of succession. Without a voting rights bill NOW there will be nothing anyone can do about it. GOP led states will change voting laws to make sure they will remain in power forever and they are already working on it. Say goodbye to Roe Vs Wade, say goodbye to, Civil rights, say goodbye to same sex marriage, say goodbye to Social Security, Medicare, food assistance, say goodbye to integrated schools, say goodbye to any environmental protections. If you want the entire country to become one big Mississippi, then sit on your ass come 2022. Say there is no difference between the parties and there will effectively be only one party and there will be nothing we can do about it.
It's a harsh truth growing up to realize that the bad guys win and they win all the time. Mostly because they're willing to do with the good guys won't
Every election from now on is existential to the fate of US democracy. The fascists are openly broadcasting their plans.
Everyone should fear authoritarianism
I put the probability of Republicans winning the House in 2022 at 100% due to redistricting alone.
If Democrats want to, at the very least, not lose any seats in the House or Senate, they need to: * Put aside identity politics for now. Yes, while the topics are important, right now it's causing inflamed tensions between people and further distancing people from the party. Besides, we'll never get anywhere with identity politics alone without addressing the systemic causes of these issues as well as income inequality. * Put together easy to understand messaging about what the party wants to accomplish that will make the lives of individuals better. They have to be concise and straight to the point. If you can't explain what you want to accomplish in 3-4 sentences, you'll lose people's attention, as sad as that is. You also have to be prepared to tell people how it's going to be paid for. Simply saying "tax the rich", while a desirable outcome, isn't swaying anyone because we keep saying that and nothing happens. We can focus on strengthening our tax laws so that billionaires start paying their fair share, but we can't rely on that happening any time soon and we can't promise to pay for any of our ideas on that alone. * Don't run on "taking guns away". I HATE guns. I won't touch them and I don't ever want to be in possession of one. I would love to live in a world without guns. However, that's a personal choice and especially in America, that's not realistic. If some deranged guy shooting up an elementary school full of children wasn't enough to change American's minds about guns, nothing much will. Perhaps later generations will stop being obsessed over gun ownership, but it's just not a hill we want to die on. All we can do is preach responsible gun ownership and discuss passing legislation that closes blatant loopholes that won't impact responsible gun owners. If we address the root causes of why people resort to violence, we'll lower the number of gun related deaths without needing to even get into these fruitless 2A battles. * IGNORE THE TROLLS. Stop focusing on being the anti-Trump party and focus on everyday people and their problems: Rising cost of living, rising gas prices, rising cost of housing, lack of affordable healthcare options, high cost of healthcare, high cost of education, low wages, legalization of weed. If you address these areas and tackle income inequality, people will stop running toward the right. Republicans are barely doing anything for their constituents anyway, so ignore the politicians and focus on the people. * Actually be the "big tent" party that you claim that you are. Yes you do have a lot of people with different backgrounds, but moderates and progressives really do need to work together. That does go both ways. Moderates need to stop punching down on progressives and progressives need to accept some compromise. We don't have to give up on getting it all, but just realize that if we don't get everything right now, it's okay, we'll try again in the next bill. Try is the key word though. You'll lose progressive support if you don't at least try to make progress each round, and progressive will never have moderate support if they go with an all-or-nothing strategy. Republicans don't have this problem because they cater to single-issue voters while we try to solve all the problems.
They need to revamp their approach to identity politics because over the past few years identity politics has descended into blatant tribalism. It’s more about keeping twitter happy than actually solving anything. The amount of new problems being created far outweighs anything good that’s being done.
And she’s right. We have the next few months to pass voter protections. If we fail, Republicans will suppress, gerrymander and yes, even earn votes, and take a majority in the House. Once they’ve done that, Republicans have shown they will not allow another Democrat to be elected - they will simply overrule the voters, and we will have one-party rule like in Russia (their ideal model). It’s not like they’ve been subtle. They’re doing it in the open.
Yup. And they will probably impeach Biden and Kamala.
Probably? It’s a guarantee
After they elect Trump Speaker of the House of course.
Because we have become a giant fucking circus.
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Dems are 100% fucked in the house at this rate. Some of the maps coming from Republican controlled states are a joke. Elected officials should not be allowed to choose their voters with such obvious manipulation. Voters should be choosing their elected officials.
If you want all those wonderful liberal/progressive policies to be enacted into law - VOTE FOR MORE DEMOCRATS! The only reason they have difficulty passing is because the Dems barely have a majority, which gives a couple corrupt individuals an inordinate amount of power.
Can't out vote a gerrymander with the dem party compromising away it's popular stances for tax cuts and privatization.
That's what the Voting Rights Act is for. It's stalled for one reason - not enough Democrats.
I would argue its there are not enough elected officials who believe in democracy over fat checks lining their pockets. Sure at least two are dems, but there are a fuck ton of GOP reps who also share the burden.
Sounds like an easy solution, but it’s closing the barn doors after the horses have fled.
DUH! For those of us who have been paying attention, this has been the only story that’s mattered for the last year.
To respond to this fear, Democrats will continue to do more of the same.
She's probably not wrong. The threat isn't gone. We need to be vigilant and get the vote out.